"Are you a creature of your circumstances or a creator of circumstances?"

When Good Things Happen for Good People…

Last week I was at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas attending the Reservation Economic Summit 2012 Conference. The event was well organized and a busy week filled with the appropriate amount of content, exhibitors and business to business networking.

During the closing session of the conference I witnessed the most important lesson of the week. The conference organizers raffled Applie iPads to 20 lucky attendees and it was during this moment that I was again reminded that good things can and will happen for good people. I was sitting at a table near the front and sharing that table was a young couple from New York. As a number was called, the young man jumped with excitement holding his winning ticket and as he made his way to the stage to receive his new iPad2, his wife was openly crying. My friend asked the young wife why she was crying and her answer touched my heart. Through the tears she explained, “Our child is 3 years old and deaf. His therapist uses an iPad to help communicate and teach our son. Last month we went shopping for an iPad and sadly we just couldn’t afford it. We didn’t know how we would be able to ever afford an iPad… this will allow us to do so much with and for our son. This is truly an answer to our prayers.”

As much as I would have enjoyed being an iPad winner, the winning moment for me was to see the simple thankfulness from this young couple. Everyone seated at that table was visibly moved by the tender moment that we were allowed to witness. I finished my seven days in Las Vegas and as I reflect back on that moment, I cannot help but to find joy knowing that something special happened for special people.